The short version
During an outage, never run a generator, grill, camp stove or unvented fuel-burning appliance inside a building or an attached garage: carbon monoxide from these kills quickly and without warning. Safe backup heat is electric, or a properly vented, permanently installed appliance. Decide this before the outage, not during one. Working CO alarms on every level are not optional, and the decision about backup heat has to be made before the outage, not improvised during one.
Read this first
Never operate a generator, charcoal or gas grill, camp stove, or any unvented fuel-burning heater inside a house, basement, or attached garage, including with a door or window open. Carbon monoxide is odourless and can reach fatal levels quickly. Working CO alarms on every level are not optional in a building with any fuel-burning appliance.
The rule that matters more than any other
Anything that burns fuel produces carbon monoxide, and anything not permanently vented to outdoors puts it in the room you are in. Generators are the most common cause of these deaths because they are large, obviously outdoor equipment that people move into a garage or basement to keep out of the weather. An attached garage is inside for this purpose, and so is a basement with the door open. A generator belongs well away from the building with its exhaust directed away from doors, windows and vents.
Carbon monoxide gives no warning. It has no smell and its early symptoms, headache, nausea, confusion, are easy to attribute to a stressful night without power, which is precisely why people go to sleep and do not wake up.
| Equipment | Why |
|---|---|
| Generator | Exhaust must be well away from doors, windows and vents |
| Charcoal or gas grill, camp stove | Built for outdoor use, with no provision for indoor ventilation |
If a CO alarm sounds, leave the building and call 911 from outside. Do not open windows and wait to see whether it stops.
What is reasonable to use
The safe options divide into electric equipment, which needs power, and permanently installed vented appliances, which do not. That distinction is the whole plan: if your backup heat needs electricity, an outage removes it, and you need a way to run it.
- Electric space heaters, plugged directly into a wall outlet, never into an extension lead or power strip
- A properly installed and vented wood or pellet stove, with the chimney serviced
- A permanently installed vented gas or propane heater, professionally fitted
- A generator, sited well outside and connected safely, running the existing heating system
An extension lead is the second most common cause of space-heater fires after placing the heater too close to something. Directly into the wall, three feet clear of anything that burns, never left running unattended or overnight.
Planning for the outage before it happens
The single most useful thing at a rural Vermont property is knowing what a generator would actually need to run. Oil and propane heating systems need electricity for controls, circulators and blowers, but only a few hundred watts of it, which is a far smaller machine than one that could start a heat pump. Many people discover during an outage that their generator powers the lights and the refrigerator but not the boiler circuit, which produces a cold house with the lights on.
If the property has a well, add the pump: an outage takes the water as well as the heat, and the pump is a much larger load than the heating controls.
- Know which circuits a generator can actually carry, tested before you need it
- Confirm the heating system's controls are on a circuit the generator reaches
- Fuel stored safely outside the building, in the correct container
- CO alarms tested, with batteries, on every level
- A plan for where to go if the building cannot be kept above freezing
When to stop trying and leave
If indoor temperature is falling toward freezing and you have no safe way to hold it, the priority shifts from comfort to the building and the people in it. Arrange somewhere warm to stay, and if the water system is full and the temperature keeps dropping, draining it may be the cheaper outcome than the alternative. Neither decision improves by being left later.
Verify current details
Confirm anything time-sensitive on the issuing agency or utility page before you rely on “Backup heat during a Vermont outage: what is safe, what kills people” for a project.
Common questions
Can I run a generator in an attached garage with the door open?
No. An attached garage is inside for carbon-monoxide purposes and an open door does not make it safe. Generators belong well away from the building with exhaust directed away from doors, windows and vents.
Are unvented propane or kerosene heaters safe indoors?
Anything burning fuel without a permanent vent to outdoors puts combustion products into the room. Treat unvented fuel-burning heaters as unsafe for indoor use and use electric heat or a properly vented, permanently installed appliance instead.
Can I heat the house with the kitchen oven or stove?
No. Ranges and ovens are not heating appliances, and a gas one used that way produces carbon monoxide in an occupied room. It is one of the more common causes of CO poisoning during outages.
How many space heaters can I run at once?
Fewer than people assume. Electric heaters draw heavily and each should be plugged directly into its own wall outlet, never a shared extension lead or power strip. Repeatedly tripping a breaker is a warning, not an inconvenience to work around.
Do I need CO alarms if I have no gas?
If anything in the building burns fuel, oil, propane, wood, pellets, or if there is an attached garage, yes. They are also what protects you when a neighbour's or a generator's exhaust finds its way in during an outage.
What should I do if a carbon monoxide alarm sounds?
Leave the building and call 911 from outside, and do not open windows and wait to see whether it stops. Carbon monoxide gives no warning, and its early symptoms of headache, nausea and confusion are easy to attribute to a stressful night without power.